Machine



(No Model.) 3 Shets-Sheet 1.

E. U. ROETTGER.

CONTINUOUS ACTING GENTRIFUGAL DRYING MACHINE. No. 314,880. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

N FETERs. PhnM-Lilhugmylher. Wnhn iw, ac.

(No Model,) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

E. O. R-OETTGER.

CONTINUOUS ACTING GENTRIPUGAL DRYING MACHINE.

No. 314,880. Patented Mar. 31, 1885.

a PETERS. PheloLflhomphnr. Walhinglm; n.c..

3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

r glatented Mar. 31,

(No Model.) E. 0. ROETTGER.

CONTINUOUS ACTING OENTRIFUGAL DRYING MACHINE V UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

EDWARD CHARLES ROETTGER, OF BRUNSWICK, GERMANY, ASSIGNOR OF TWO-THIRDS TO HEINRICH PERSCHMANN AND CARL HAMMER.

CONTINUOUS-ACTING CENTRIFUGAL DRYING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 314,880, dated March 31, 1885.

Application died September 6, 1884. (No model.) Patented in Germany April 24, 1884, No. 29,606; in France April 28, 1884, No.

161,779; in Belgium June 5,1884, No. 65,397, and Augustfl, 1884, and in England July 16, i884, No. 10,232.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD CHARLES ROETTGER, a subject of the Emperor of Germany, residing at Brunswick, Germany, have invented new and useful Improvements in Continuous Acting Centrifugal Drying- Machines, (for which I have obtained provisional protection in England, No. 10,232, dated July 16, 1884, and patents in France, No. 161,779,

bearing date April 28, 1884,'in Belgium, No.

65,397, bearing date June 5, 1884, and a patent of improvement in the same country dated August 2, 1884, and in Germany bearing date April24, 1884, No. 29,606,) of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

' The present invention relates to that class of centrifugal machines in which two saucer- 'shaped vessels are so placed upon a rotary 2o shaft as to leave adischarge-aperture for the drained material between the lips or edges of said vessels. In such machines it has heretofore been customary to separate the two halves of the rotary drum in order to discharge the solid contents, or else such drum has been made of two sections, which are connected by plates, so as to form a permanent space between the sections of the drum, which space is closed by an augleiron ring that uncovers 0 the space when the drum is moved away from the same.

, In my invention I make provision for the automatic opening of the space between the two sections comprising the draining-vesse1,to

which reference will hereinafter be fully made; and my invention furthermore consists in the construction and arrangement of devices set forth in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a see.

covered over by a cloth or filtering-medium mounted upon a rotatory shaft or spindle, 11, so

that both sides of the said chamber or receptacle a are convex, andthat the outer edges or circumferences of the said caps a and a, 5 5

are opposite'each other and nearly touch each other. a small opening or slit, a'-,beiug left between them for the purpose of allowing the material which has been dried to escape from the said chamber or receptacle.

In the upper cap or plate, a, is formed round the shafth acircular opening, a,through which the materials to be dried are fed into thecl'iamberorreceptaclea. Theaugle formed by the ends of the plates a and a may be more or less acute, and the caps or plates forming the lenticular chamber or receptacle, instead of being both convex andsymmetrical, as represented in Fig. 1, may be one convex andthe other concave, the concave plate or cap being of greater radius than the convex plate or cap,

as indicated in the diagram Fig. 3, where a is the convex plate or cap, and a is the upper concave plate or cap; or the under cap or plate, a, may be concave, and the upper one, a may be convex. as indicated in the diagram Fig. 4; or the said lenticular chamber or vessel may be formed of corrugated plates, as indicated ate a in the diagram Fig. 5; or the lower plate or cap, a, may be conical'or funnel- 8o shaped,the upperplate, a being fiat,or nearly so, as indicated in the diagram Fig. 6; or both plates may be flat, leaving between them a comparatively thin cylindrical space,

Instead of both of the caps or plates 2r (#8 5 which communicates with the trough or basin 5 b by means of the gutteror channel (I, and the. liquid passes out with that in the trough or basin 1) through the pipe or channel 01,

Placed around the lenticular receptacle a is a cylindrical or other suitably-shaped chest or case, 6, against which the dried material strikes I it may be useful to heat by steam or otherwise after passing outfrom the lenticular chamber or receptacle through the slit or opening a". The said dried material then falls upon an inclined plane or hopper,f, and passes out from the machine, when it may be removed in baskets or otherwise.

The inclosing chest or case e may be made of perforated metal and covered with cloth or other suitable filtering medium, and when it is required that the dried material,- which is projected from the lenticular chamber or receptacle a tangentially with a velocity equal to that of the outer periphery of the receptacle a, should not be broken, the inner surface of the chest or case 6 may be covered with cloth, felt, sponges, or other substances which will deaden the shock. The upper cap or plate, a is affixed to the under cap or plate, a, by screws or bolts 9, Fig. 2, and between the said caps or plates at and a are formed cross-bars or feathers g, which may be disposed radially, as shown in Fig. 2, or spirally. The said cross-bars or feathers 9 may be made solid or hollow, and may be covered with cloth or other filtering mediumaor they may be perforated with holes and in communication with the trough or basin 1) or the gutter 0, bands of india-rubber or gutta-percha interposed between the surfaces allowing by their elasticity the caps or plates a and a to be brought nearer to one another or to be kept farther apart, thus regulating the width of the slit or opening a as required, for it is obvious that upon the Width of the said slit or opening a and upon the velocity of rotation of the charm her or receptable a depends the time that each particle of material will remain in the said chamber or receptacle a before escaping therefrom, and consequently the drying effect produced by the machine upon the material operated upon.

The rotatory shaft or spindle h, with its pulley k and drivinggear, and the frame Z of the machine are such as are usually used in centrifugal drying-machines of ordinary construction, and need not be further described.

Instead of being mounted vertically, as

shown in Fig. 1, the rotatory shaft or spindle h may be mounted horizontally, and the slit or opening a instead of being on the center line of the receptacle a, as represented, may

be situated either above or below the said center line.

The action of the machine is as follows: The material to be dried, which may be sugar, starch, seeds, beet-root pulp, potatoes, bruised malt from distilleries, slack coal, moist sand, clay, or any other semi-fluid substance, is fed into the lenticular chamber or receptacle a continuously through the aperture a by means of a suitable channel or hopper, and rotatory motion being givenv to the machine, theliquid is driven off by centrifugal force through the permeable surfaces of the caps or plates 0. and a and the solid parts of the material escape through the slit or opening a In some cases the plates a a For the treatment of some substances the slit or opening a may be closed at the beginning of the operation by means of an elastic ring or band of india-- rubber or of very elastic metal affixed to either of the plates or covers a a", as indicated at m m in the diagram Fig. 7, the said ring or band an m being disposed so that it will not uncover the slit or opening a until the centrifugal force overcomes its elasticity; or weights or springs n 11., Figs. 6 and 7, pressing upon the upper cap or plate, a of the chamber or receptacle a, may be used to close the slit or opening or until opened by centrifugal force, the upper cap or plate, a being in such cases arranged so as to be capable of rising and falling within certain limits; or the upper cap or plate of the lenticular chamber or receptacle may be constructed and arranged so that during the ro tation of the said chamber or receptaclev it may be raised from or lowered onto the lower cap or plate, and its position in relation to the said lower cap may be adjusted as required. This modification of my invention is illustrated in Figs. 8, 9, and 10 of the accompanying drawings, Fig. 8 being a vertical section, and Fig. 9 a plan, partly in section, of a centrifugal drying-machine containing the said modification. Fig. 10 is a vertical section of one of my centrifugal drying-machines mounted in position, and illustrating another mode of raising and lowering the upper cap or plate of the lenticular chamber or receptacle.

I11 Figs. 8 and 9 the bottom cap or plate, a, made of cast metal, is turned at its outer edge, 00, so as to be perfectly. true. The said cap or plate a is affixed upon the shaft or spindle h, which receives rotatory motion from the shaft k through the friction-wheels kk. The upper cap or plate, a the edge of which is also turned true, is made of cast metal, and is formed with a neck, a and a grated funnel or receiver, a, through which the material to be dried is fed into the chamber or receptacle a. The said cap or plate a turns freely upon the extended upper cylindrical end of the shaft 71. Upon the upper end of the neck a bears a pointed center piece, m, which is by its upper end jointed to the lever n, and is connected to the neck a by a clutch, 0, which embraces the shoulders m of the center piece, m, and a of the neck a respectively.

n is a lever, one end of which is jointed at n to a bracket, n upon the standard 1?.

n? is a standard affixed upon the bed-plate l, and to the upper end of which is jointed the two-armed lever 11, n, the arm n being terminated by a handle, (not shown in the drawings,) and the arm n being formed at its upper end with a curved slide, M, in which engages a stud or pin, a on the end of the lever 12.

By means of the lever n the upper cap or plate, a may be raised or lowered during the rotation of the machine, the lever 12 n fixing the cap or plate a in the required position.

The cap or plate may, if preferred, be raised or lowered during the rotation of the machine by means of a weighted lever, as represented in Fig. 10, in which n is the weighted lever, jointed at one end to the standard a and resting by a pointed center piece, m, upon the neck a of the upper cap or plate, a or the upper cap or plate may be raised or lowered during the rotation of the machine by forming screw-threads upon the upper end of the shaft h, and by forming within the neck a a screw-box capable of screwing upon the said screw-threads.

By applying a-brake to the upper cap or brake, a, during the rotation of the machine, the velocity of the rotation of the said cap orplate a will be reduced, and the said cap or plate a will, by the action of the screw-box on the screwed part of the shaft 72, screw itself up the shaft h, and the said upper cap or plate, a will be raised from the lower cap or plate, a". The screw-threads on the shaft should be left-handed, and the chamber or receptacle a should rotate in a contrary direction. When the upper cap or plate, a has reached the highest position which it-is desired to attain, its upward motion is arrested by an adj ustable ring upon the shaft h. By then releasing the brake the cap or plate a will very soon acquire the same velocity as the under cap or plate, a, and when it is required afterward to close the chamber or receptacle a a' brake is applied to the under cap or plate, a, when the screw-box in the neck of the upper cap or plate, (1 will engage with the screw-thread on the shaft h, and bring down the said cap or plate a upon the lower cap or plate, a

By the modified arrangement hereinbefore described the dried material in the chamber a may be removed therefrom intermittently without completely stopping the rotation of p lower cap or plate, a. By this arrangement, when the upper cap or plate, a is raised from the lower one, a the interposed cloth or co vering is also lifted up, andthe dried material deposited thereon in the form of an annular cakeis broken up and detached from the cloth, and will be projected more easily through the opening formed between the upper and lower caps or plates, a and a".

I claim as my invention 1. In a centrifugal machine, the combination of a rotary shaft and the stationarysection of a draining vessel or drum mounted on said shaft, with a movable section of said draining vessel or drum having its outer edge in line with the outer edge of the stationary drum-section, and automatic means for holding such edges together and allowing them to separate to discharge the, drained contents, substantially as described.

2. In a centrifugal machine, the combina tion,with the rotating draining-vessel made of two perforated sections having a concentric dischargeslit between the same, of an elastic ring applied to the drainingvessel and covering the discharge-slit until the pressure of the material is sufficient to remove said ring, substantially as described.

3. In a centrifugal machine, the combination of the rotating draining-vessel having a concentric slit or opening, and the permeable surface surrounding said slit and against which the dried material issuing from the drainingvessel is caused to strike for the purpose of allowing any "liquid parts adhering to the said parts of the said material to separate therefrom and to escape through the said permeable surface, substantially as described.

4. In a centrifugal machine, the combination, with the lenticular perforated sections a (0*, having outer curved rims, a, and plates 9, the shaft It, and casing e, of the troughs c and b, gutter d, and discharge-spout (1, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses:

WVILLIAMs 0. Fox, J oHs. KRAOKE. 

